Movie Review Monday

It was another slow movie-rental weekend. My spouse decided on this film because he’s a Margot Robbie fan. The trailer didn’t look terrible, so we decided to give it a go. The boys had no desire to watch this movie, so they didn’t.

Terminal does an interesting job of using color throughout. There is a definite noir feel to the film. There’s mystery and intrigue and betrayal and death.

The movie wasn’t awful, but it could have been a lot better. I had it figured out from the beginning, but I don’t know if that’s because I watch too many movies or because it was just that easy to figure out. There was a small twist in the film (that I won’t give away), but it wasn’t ground-breaking shocking. My mouth didn’t fall open at the reveal. I felt more like, “Meh. I guess that can work.”

As a revenge film, it works very well. Annie does a great job of laying out her plans, being patient, and then seeing the fruits of her labor. The film uses Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland throughout to create a surreal and somewhat irrational landscape, and it works. I’m a huge fan of that book, so I found that part interesting.

The film is 90 minutes long, and it didn’t feel burdensome. There was enough intrigue and mystery to keep the story moving forward. There was one point when it flashed back to 3 weeks previously, and I wasn’t quite sure when we got back to the present. That may have been the point to add to the surreal feel, but I’m not sure. It didn’t make it difficult to follow the action, I just thought it was weird.

If you enjoy noir films and visually interesting moves, Terminal might be the film for you. The story wasn’t lacking, but it was predictable (which is probably expected in noir). It wasn’t a huge waste of time for a Friday evening.